Ellen

Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted (Hardcover)

By Suleika Jaouad

$28.00

ISBN: 9780399588587

Availability: Available to Order from Supplier: Arrives at Store in a Week(ish)

Published: Random House - February 9th, 2021

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Joauad’s memoir is a primer for all of us slowly emerging from lockdown.  Her young life was abruptly interrupted in her early 20’s when she received a devastating diagnosis followed by 3 and a half years of isolating treatment. Her very brave battle continued after her release from hospital as she took stock of what she’d lost, who she had become, and how to live again. You won’t be able to put this down.

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments (Hardcover)

By Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Fumi Nakamura (Illustrator)

$25.00

ISBN: 9781571313652

Availability: In Stock: Click Title to See if it's in CAMBRIDGE or BOSTON

Published: Milkweed Editions - September 8th, 2020

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I initially picked up this book because of the cover, I admit it.  What I found was not one of those ubiquitous books "about nature". In these 20 essays, the author writes about the more unusual forms flora and fauna all around us from the perspective of herself as a young girl and then as an adult. Each story is a carefully crafted gem in which the personal and the natural history are woven together, to create a loving portrait of her family.  Makes a great gift!!

Ellen

A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America's First All-Black High School Rowing Team (Hardcover)

By Arshay Cooper

$27.99

ISBN: 9781250754769

Availability: Available to Order from Supplier: Arrives at Store in a Week(ish)

Published: Flatiron Books - June 30th, 2020

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Inspiring true story from Chicago's West Side in the turbulent 1990s. A group of young Black men from Manley High form the first black rowing team to save themselves. They are utterly transformed by the experience. Survivors, they reunite 20 years later to make a difference by offering the same opportunity to young black kids in their hometown. They also invite white members of the Chicago Police Department to join them in bringing people together to make a difference one stroke at a time. You will be moved to tears. Now available as a documentary on Peacock TV.

Ellen

One Last Lunch: A Final Meal with Those Who Meant So Much to Us (Hardcover)

By Erica Heller (Editor)

$25.00
It's Complicated--Contact Us for More Information

ISBN: 9781419735325

Published: Abrams Press - May 12th, 2020

 

You've seen those author interviews where the question is inevitably asked, "if you were to host a dinner party and could invite anyone you wanted who would you invite and why?" In this volume, Erica Heller, daughter of author Joseph Heller, makes it lunch and brings together the responses of 50 notable personalities like Michael Douglas, Daniel Bellow, and Bob Balaban to name a few. Questions one has always wanted answered by a loved one or admired mentor are fully fleshed out over a shared meal. Lovely distracting reading for our current times.

 

Ellen

The Patch (Paperback)

By John McPhee

$17.00

ISBN: 9781250234889

Availability: Available to Order from Supplier: Arrives at Store in a Week(ish)

Published: Picador - November 19th, 2019

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Now in paperback just in time for the holiday season, the seventh collection of McPhee’s essays and an all around “Best of” his body of work.   McPhee brings his inimitable talent for observation to bear on several arenas of the human experience… sports, the phenomenon of celebrity status, nature…employing wit, poetry, and his trademark “turn of phrase”.  His curiosity about all things never ceases to entertain.

 

Ellen

The Guest Book: A Novel (Hardcover)

By Sarah Blake

$27.99
It's Complicated--Contact Us for More Information

ISBN: 9781250110251

Published: Flatiron Books - May 7th, 2019

 

Perfect for long stretches of uninterrupted reading. .. this is THAT book which will transport the reader to another time and place. This is the story of the Milton family through generations as they face the challenges of their changing landscape. From the 1930’s to the present, issues of race and class impact their lives and create upheaval. Choices made and paths taken in earlier decades come to the surface and unsettle the current generation. In life, as in literature, we can not escape our past.

Ellen

Soup for Syria: Recipes to Celebrate Our Shared Humanity (Cooking with Barbara Abdeni Massaad) (Hardcover)

By Barbara Abdeni Massaad, Barbara Abdeni Massaad (Illustrator)

$30.00

ISBN: 9781566560894

Availability: In Stock: Click Title to See if it's in CAMBRIDGE or BOSTON

Published: Interlink Books - May 15th, 2015

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It is meant to tug on your heart strings and, at the risk of editorializing, it SHOULD! The recipes in Soup for Syria are the basic stuff of life and have sustained these people for centuries. They aren’t fancy, but as we enter the winter season, these soups are just what we want … hearty and healthful. The likes of Anthony Bourdain, Ana Sortun, Yotam Ottolenghi, Alice Waters and others have contributed to this collection. Proceeds from sales of this book will help fund relief efforts for Syrian refugees. It is the holiday spirit all wrapped up in one single volume.

Ellen

 

Testament of Youth (Paperback)

By Vera Brittain, Mark Bostridge (Introduction by), Shirley Williams (Preface by)

$22.00

ISBN: 9780143039235

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Published: Penguin Classics - May 31st, 2005

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One of the most heartrending and “romantic” memoirs of World War I. Testament of Youth is a classic, first published in 1933, among the literature of  the Great War, in its description of the impact of the war on women and the middle class. The unimaginable loss and sacrifice of a generation is rendered  beautifully through Brittain’s words. Her experiences as a volunteer nurse (VAD) in the armed services, a university student before and after the war, and a  tireless advocate for peace and feminist causes make this a defining and timeless work. A film version of Brittain’s work releases in the UK  in 2015.

Ellen